


Embrace

by Carerra_os



Series: Harringrove Tumblr Stories [36]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Billy Hargrove Lives, First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:47:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25983832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carerra_os/pseuds/Carerra_os
Summary: Billy claws his way out of the upside down and into the Russian base under Starcourt.-Billy would not necessarily call it stranger but it is surreal seeing his own dead body. Max sobbing at its side and Billy watches as a wet eyed Steve pulls her away from the gross tar covered body and into his chest holding her close as his own eyes drip. There is more gross black behind them, a huge mass of it seeming to seep into the floor, but Billy hardly pays it any mind, too tuned into Steve and Max and he pinches himself because them being sad over him does not compute.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Series: Harringrove Tumblr Stories [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673560
Comments: 5
Kudos: 154





	Embrace

**Author's Note:**

> 56 “I don’t do hugs.”

**Embrace**

Billy has been in hell for days, maybe weeks when he finally finds his escape. He finally walks out of the upside down and winds up with Chief Hopper pointing a gun at him. Billy gets it, he probably looks a damn mess, but that is not his fault he just spent god knows how long in some creepy ass alternate dimension that he cannot even begin to comprehend. He is not even sure how he got there, crashed his car, had a creepy dream he was talking to something that looked just like him and woke up in a gray scale nightmare. Joyce Byers is standing behind him staring at Billy like he has just come back from the dead and for all he knows he has, he cannot be sure how long it has been, time kind of moved weird in there. Definitely almost died in there a few times, monsters around every turn, but Billy found a crowbar and clawed his way out of hell.

“You, you?” Hopper asks like that makes any damn sense.

“Who the fuck else would I be, do you want to explain what the hell is going on?” Billy demands, he is tired and hungry. He ate what he could find but he is pretty sure none of it was good for him, is not sure if the rotting food of whatever was in the air is what had his stomach turning the entire time. There is a lot to unfold here, like when exactly Russians built a base under Hawkins and why the chief of police and Joyce Byers are dressed in Russian uniforms.

Hopper stares him down for a long moment before nodding his head. “No time to explain, get upstairs and help them kill that thing.” That is all Hopper says on the matter, Joyce giving him a hasty explanation on how to get out, and Billy picks up the crow bar he had been using to defend himself in literal hell and runs through a base full of Russians. Only a few of them pay him any mind, he is running away not toward the machine they are trying to save and Billy knocks them down without a second thought, running on pure adrenaline.

Billy definitely gets turned around a few times, and has even more questions about what was supposed to be a quiet town. Feels the whole place shake at one point and worries he got out of that hell just to be buried alive but eventually he comes to the elevator and he rides it up. He leans against the side heart pounding, wondering what kind of crazy he is going to walk into now, whatever it is he is sure it cannot be weirder than the strange place he has been surviving in. 

Billy would not necessarily call it stranger but it is surreal seeing his own dead body. Max sobbing at its side and Billy watches as a wet eyed Steve pulls her away from the gross tar covered body and into his chest holding her close as his own eyes drip. There is more gross black behind them, a huge mass of it seeming to seep into the floor, but Billy hardly pays it any mind, too tuned into Steve and Max and he pinches himself because them being sad over him does not compute. 

There is a little girl around Max’s age that Billy does not recognize with short cropped curls, her own eyes wet as her eyes hone in on him with recognition and Billy feels pinned. “Billy” Her voice breaks but it drags everyone's attention, he stumbles as Max practically rams into him nearly knocking him over and the crow bar clatters to the floor. There is a lot of shouting from most of the kids and everyone else currently present. Billy sneers when someone questions if he is himself. 

Steve is not yelling though, is staring at Billy with wide wet eyes and those shouts fall away when Billy looks at him. Mesmerized by the pain and anguish, the sadness his supposed death caused Steve. The way Steve is looking at him like a miracle, like he wants to cry all over again only this time those tears are happy. They are not even friends but Billy is aching at that look, it breathes new life into old hopes, hopes he thought he buried the night he broke a plate against Steve’s face. Hopes that maybe that night back in November did not ruin every chance he had at Steve.

**“I don’t do hugs.”** Billy says, means it even as Steve sways forward, starts edging closer. Max hanging from his waist, arms tight around him, undermines his words. Words Steve just ignores as he moves forward with purpose, crossing the room in a few strides. Steve's arms are wrapping around both him and Max in the blink of an eye warm and solid.

“I don’t do hugs.” Billy insists again but he is already wrapping his arms around Steve and Max too because despite himself he has missed her and he worried about her in his absence. He does not even care that both of them are definitely getting snot on him, he is already covered in so much gunk form that hellscape it is not as if a little more matters in the long run.

They are both ugly crying and the little girl Billy does not know has a visible snot bubble as she presses her way into the hug too, Steve tucking her between them and Billy, Billy feels tears of his own. He has always been an easy crier despite how much he tries to hide it at times, but he lets them fall, curls his arms tighter around them and tucks his face against Steve’s soft hair. He is just relieved to be out of there, to be here, to get this, he almost gave up a few times.

He is not running on pure adrenaline anymore though, and he is tired, sore, and a little under nourished, he has almost definitely been eating poison for days, maybe weeks. The crying and the happiness that fills him over escaping, the hope that fills him with how much Steve seems to care takes the last of his energy. Billy starts swaying, cannot get his mouth to work to warn as his vision starts spotting but Steve is right there, arms going tight and Billy is pretty sure he will not hit the ground as he passes out. 

Billy wakes up in a white room, the steady beeping of machines around him, and the sight of Steve Harrington sleeping propped up in a chair next to his bed. Billy looks away for half a second, sees the moon in the window, a nurse walking by the cracked door, it is just the two of them in the room as Billy focuses back in on Steve. There is a little bit of drool coming out of Steve’s mouth and he has definitely cleaned up since the mall, no black tarry goo or tear stains in sight. He looks soft in his big knitted sweater, hair flat but still looking soft, and Billy wants to touch him. 

Billy does not even realize he has tried to move until he knocks a book to the ground when he leans up a little. He drops back against the pillows as Steve wakes abruptly, going panicked before his eyes land on Billy. Billy feels pinned as Steve looks at him with so much happiness, smile wet and stunning, stealing Billy’s breath away. He edges closer and Billy knows, he just knows and he wants but he still says “I don’t do hugs.”

“Shut up, I know and I don’t care.” Steve climbs onto the bed and tucks in close arms around Billy like they do this all the time, head against his chest, fresh tears soaking his hospital gown. Billy lets his arms go around Steve as that hope burns bright in him. That maybe they had been edging toward something before November, that maybe he had not ruined it all that night, that maybe they can do this all the time, under better circumstances.

“Really scared you huh pretty boy?” Billy asks because he needs to break the silence, had spent too much time in silence in that place and the beeps from the machines hooked up to monitor him are not enough. 

Steve is quiet and Billy fears he broke whatever delirium has taken over and driven Steve to care, fears he has burned out that little seed of hope by asking. Billy feels his chest tighten with that fear, and hears the beeps on the machine pick up. Steve lifts his head then, before Billy can really start to panic. Tilts his head to look up at Billy with some kind of feeling Billy cannot really identify, and it fills him with something like hope but so much brighter, so much stronger. 

“Yeah I never thought I would get to do this.” Billy’s breath leaves him as Steve leans in and kisses him, it is quick chaste but Billy hooks his hand around Steve’s neck when he goes to pull away dragging him in for a real kiss. Billy's mouth is stale, and he knows Steve can probably taste all of the terrible that Billy’s mouth has been exposed to over the last couple days, maybe weeks but he does not push Billy away. 

“We should do that again, just in case we’re dreaming or somethin’, have to be sure.” Billy insists when they break apart panting, and he knows it is a long shot because god does he need to brush his teeth but Steve laughs against his mouth as he leans back down and kisses him again anyway. Billy never wants him to stop kissing him.

**-END**

**Author's Note:**

> https://ghostofjellyfishforgotten.tumblr.com/


End file.
